UMass Dartmouth Faculty Andrew J. McWain

ANDREW J. MCWAIN: Biography

Andy McWain is a full-time lecturer in jazz studies, jazz piano, and theory. As an improvising pianist/keyboardist he has performed and/or recorded with such artists as Joe Giardullo, Karl Berger, Assif Tsahar, Tiger Okoshi, Santi Debriano, Brian Melvin, Daniel Levin, Tatsuya Nakatani, John Dirac, Jorrit Dijkstra, Albey Balgochian, Laurence Cook, Dino Govoni, Luther Gray, Jim Robitaille, Brooke Sofferman, Bruno Raberg, Reuben Radding, Dennis Warren's Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble, the Artie Shaw Orchestra (led by Dick Johnson), and the Zen Bastards, among others. McWain has received fellowships, residencies, and additional training at the Atlantic Center for the Arts (FL) [with Butch Morris], Kurszentrum Langnau im Emmantal (SWI), the Akiyoshidai International Art Village (Japan), the Wellesley Composers Conference (MA), June in Buffalo (NY), Music '98 Festival-Workshop (OH), and Yaddo (NY). His honors and awards include those from the American Music Center, Meet the Composer/New England, the American Composers Forum/Boston Chapter, the Sotiroes Vlahopoulos Competition, Britten-on-the-Bay Composers Competition, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Helen E. Ellis Trust. He served as resident composer (1997-98, 2000) to the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, writing a number of works including Symphony of Just Words, commissioned by the NBSO, a local arts consortium, and the AT&T Foundation. He founded (2004) and produces the Audible Think Improvised Music Series in New Bedford, Massachusetts.